UL360 is a brand new 360 degree pocket lantern from NEXTORCH. It won an ISPO AWARD 2016/2017 in ASIAN PRODUCTS category.
Here are the specs provided by NEXTORCH:
Not mentioned in the image above:
PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES
UL360 is packaged in a cardboard box with all the usual information. One feature distinguishing it from all the other cardboard product boxes is a metal hang tab instead of just a cutout in the cardboard. Unnecessary? Probably, but it adds to the feeling of opening a high quality product.
Inside is the lantern itself, an S shape carabiner (S-Biner) attached to it, an Energizer alkaline AA battery, an elastic rope lanyard and a separate box/envelope which contains two spare o-rings, a card with a QR code for product registration, an advertising booklet and a manual (which can also be found on the manufacturer’s website).
BODY
Body of UL360 gives a quality feel. It’s all made of metal, except the white polycarbonate diffuser, which extends to the length of the battery tube.
Threads are cut in polycarbonate. They are trapezoidal and came well lubricated.
White polycarbonate diffuser hides a metal (it mildly attracts a magnet, so it’s not aluminum) tube inside. There is no spring on the positive terminal.
The tailcap is made of aluminum and is anodized black. Serial number is laser engraved on the back and battery polarity indicator is on the side. Threads are anodised and there is a spring on the negative terminal.
USABILITY
The lantern is not fixed in one position, it can pivot around full 360 degrees. There are clear detents on 0, 45, 90, 135, 180 and 225 degree positions, but UL360 can also be positioned in between those fixed points.
The mechanism is tight enough to not let the lantern rotate by itself because of gravity even when it’s between the fixed detents. When in a detented position, even shaking UL360 violently didn’t make it budge.
The base of UL360 is actually a magnet, which makes it super easy to stick it to metallic surfaces, like a fridge.
No metal around? No problem! There is a ring on the base with two slots for attaching the included carabiner, elastic rope lanyard or anything else you want. Well, almost anything, the slots are too small to fit a larger 4mm carabiner.
The ring is not fixed in place and rotates freely around the base.
The best part is, that using both included carabiner and lanyard, you can attach it to objects like trees, railings and so on. This, plus ability to rotate the lantern in 360 degrees makes it easy to attach and position UL360 just where you need it.
UI
UL360 is pretty simple in operation. There is no switch, you turn it on by tightening the tailcap, so in essence it‘s like a twisty light, but you twist the tailcap instead of the head.
The lantern has two modes, high and low, it always starts at high. To change modes simply unscrew the tailcap less than a quarter of a turn until it‘s off and tighten it back. You have about 2 seconds to do it, if UL360 is off for more than that it resets back to high mode.
One quirk, when switching to low mode it flashes brighter (maybe high mode) for a fraction of a second before going to low.
PWM
I am very sensitive to low frequency PWM and even though UL360 uses it for low mode, it’s fast enough so that I couldn’t detect it with my eyes.
CONCLUSION
UL360 is a nice well designed lantern. It’s compact, can be attached to metal surfaces, hung, tied to something, uses a common AA battery (or a rechargeable Ni-MH), neutral white LED is not harsh on the eyes, light produceded is a very wide angle total flood.
One concern might be the longevity of threads cut in polycarbonate body.
Convoy S2+ | Olight S15 Baton | NEXTORCH UL360 | GLO-TOOB GT-AAA | 18650 | AA | AAA
UL360 was provided by NEXTORCH for review.
Thank you for reading.
It’s a total flooder, so brightness drops with distance very fast. I’d say for something like a tent it’s more than enough.